Woman rescued after night in river

A Riverside County helicopter crew found a woman floating in the Colorado River early Sunday morning some seven hours after she went missing on a personal watercraft, the sheriff’s department said.

The woman took off alone on a Yamaha WaveRunner about 6 p.m. from Goose Flats. She was heading about 7 miles to Destiny McIntyre RV Resort in Blythe, a river camp also known as McIntyre Park. Her husband and a group of friends left the flats about 10 minutes afterward and realized she was missing when they couldn’t find her at camp.

The husband called authorities about 9:30 p.m. Saturday after the group searched the waterway and river road for several hours.

Riverside authorities spotted her about 1 a.m., floating with the WaveRunner 20 miles north of the flats. She had run aground on a sandbar and was unable to break free for about six hours, said Sgt. Marion Yocom.

The woman finally dislodged the watercraft and had been floating about five minutes when Riverside’s Star 94 helicopter found her. After Riverside County deputies rescued her, she was transported to a hospital for treatment of hypothermia, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department said.

Boat and helicopter crews from La Paz and Imperial counties also searched for the woman. She was not identified.